Re: [Mesa3d-users] Help in basics of Mesa/OpenGL

[Stephen J B. <sj...@ht...>]

On Mon, 10 Apr 2000, Igor Evdokimov wrote:

> The libraries - libGL, libGLU, libGLUT, libGLX.
> 
> 1) What does every one of them do? What are the main functions?
 
libGL contains all the functions whose names begin with 'gl', the
      basic core of OpenGL functions.

libGLU contains some utility functions for doing things like
      tessellation, spline curves, etc.  All the functions whose
      names start with 'glu'.  GLU functions are not part of the
      OpenGL core API and may be omitted.  Generally, GLU functions
      only make calls to libGL.

libglut (not usually capitalised) is another GL utility toolkit
      called 'GLUT' that provides a device independent window
      management/mouse/keyboard/joystick interface.  These functions
      are not at all a part of the OpenGL specification - but are
      used (for example) for the sample code in the OpenGL user
      guide.  GLUT routines all start with the letters 'glut' (Suprise,
      suprise!)

GLX (not libGLX) is two things:

      * Specifically for X-window systems there are a bunch of 'glX'
        functions in libGL that contain all the routines that a
        program needs in order to interface with X windows.

      * An interface protocol that allows OpenGL programs running
        on one computer to produce graphics on another - providing
        both support the GLX protocol.  In a sense, this is like
        X-window's ability to do the same thing.

> The second question is -
> 
> 2) We need to make industrial (mining & geology) 3d-modelling software
>  (under QPL or GNU GPL). What combination of
>  <GUI API>+<3D high-level library> you can advice me to make our software
>  better and faster? (We plan to use Mesa as an OpenGL API).
 
Well, I've had lots of success with FLTK (Fast-Light ToolKit)...there are
plenty of others to choose from though.  I don't know your application
area well enough to know what higher-level library you need for 3D work,
I'd be suprised if OpenGL (Mesa) were not good enough for your needs.

For example: The PPE 3D modeller for Linux is written using FLTK and Mesa.

             http://prettypoly.sourceforge.net

> You can answer me in Russian too.
 
No - I can't   :-(

Steve Baker                      (817)619-2657 (Vox/Vox-Mail)
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